Open Hands Overflowing Hearts
Hey guys my post today is a little different than my normal posts about real estate appraisal, o.k. it’s lot different. 🙂 The reason I’m writing this is to make you aware of a worthy cause I’m getting behind and one you might want to as well. You’ll see a link on the right hand side of the page regarding Open Hands Overflowing Hearts and I wanted to let you know what it is all about, and if you want to get involved or donate that would be great too.
Cancer is a devastating disease that I’m sure has touched everyone’s life in one way or another. It could be a family member, friend, co-worker or classmate. In my own life I have been touched by it’s effect on several people that me and my family have gotten to know over the years from my kids teachers, friends, kids I’ve taught at church, and others. The latest person we know to be effected is the daughter of a friend who found out that she had cancer while doing mission work in Africa. You can read her story here, as she does an excellent job of describing how everything unfolded.
Kayla has done an amazing job of taking her situation and making something positive out of it. Some of us might wonder (including me) how in the world could you make something positive out of cancer, but she has done just that. Kayla’s strength comes from a strong faith in which she lives out the words written in Joshua 1:7 that tells us to “Be strong and VERY courageous”.
She and her family have started the “Open Hands Overflowing Hearts” Foundation to fight childhood cancer. As you can see from the infographic from their website childhood cancer is underfunded and only receives less than 4% of government funding.
The Open Hands Overflowing Hearts Foundation seeks to raise more awareness for childhood cancer as well as raise money to help fight it. I’ve decided to include a donation link to my own website to show support because you never know who will visit your website and feel moved to help this worthy cause.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you have any positive stories you can share regarding how someone you know has moved above their situation to make a difference please feel free to leave a message below.
In addition to the link to the right you can visit Kayla’s website here which also has the donation link.
Good stuff, Tom. A friend’s 15-year old nephew just passed away from a form of cancer. It was heart-breaking to watch the story unfold over the past few years on Facebook. Yet in the midst of it, this kid was a champ, and he fought and lived to the fullest. I wish his story would have ended far differently, but that’s not what happened. In some senses his journey is nothing short of inspirational though because it begs the questions, are we really living life? I love Gary’s quote from Stuart Scott above.
I agree Ryan, it really puts things in perspective when we find ourselves complaining about really dumb things or maybe only slugging through life. We can honor these warriors by appreciating every minute we’re given and working towards a bigger cause other than ourselves.
Stuart Scott said it best, “You beat cancer by how you live.” It sounds like Kayla is living.
Great example Gary. It’s very admirable and inspirational when we see people rise above their situation and work towards a greater cause.